Boot Camp Co-op

We culminate each week's study with a day of co-op on Friday.  To complete our week on the military we let the kids dress up in some sort of uniform.  DD chose navy blue and white to honor her uncle who is retired Air Force and DS chose to honor his Dad who was in the army years ago.  We even made some little "medals" during the week out of ribbon, a bedazzler and and some hot glue.  So they each had three of these pinned to their uniforms along with their rank pinned to their sleeve.  All the co-op kids came dressed for boot camp with assorted canteens and weapons.

My wonderful husband led co-op this week so we had an especially fun time.  He started in the house with a power point and some instruction on what happens during basic training.  He went over all the insignia worn and the various ranks.  He showed them how to salute, who to salute and when to salute, when they should wear their head cover and when not to, how to stand at attention and more.  This lasted about an hour and the kids stayed engaged from start to finish.  I was amazed!

We then moved outside for some practice marching.  This was really fun because all the moms got to play too.  We were taught how to turn and pivot and march together.  Fortunately we live on a little dirt road so we could march up and down the length of it without interruption.  We also got to shout a marching ditty of my husband's making because the ones he used to sing in the army had profanity.  You know the kind..."I don't know but I've been told!"  and then dh's words, "New England weather is mighty cold!"  He ended it with something about our toes falling off in the night, quite silly so we loved it all the more.

One of the moms brought MRE's for lunch and all the kids had to try each item.  That was an adventure of it's own.  Some of the courses were better than they expected and the one part DH and I remember liking best turned out to be disgusting!

Finally to complete the day we all went back outside to run through an obstacle course.  This time DH was supposed to yell in their faces like a drill sergeant but he just couldn't do it.  He yelled but it all sounded more like shouts of encouragement to me. :)